There are now just 8 RadioShacks left in the Houston area

Electronics retailer RadioShack has closed more than 1,000 stores since Memorial Day weekend and becomes a virtual goner, saying it will only have 72 company-owned stores remaining nationwide by Thursday.

The chain held a giant liquidation sale over the weekend "before we close the stores for good," it said in a statement. Also remaining are about 500 dealer-owned stores.

The meltdown of what was once one of America's best-known chains represents a strange turn of events considering it was only in March that parent General Wireless Operations filed for bankruptcy protection and proposed closing only about 200 RadioShack stores.

In its heyday, Fort Worth-based RadioShack had 7,300 stores and could claim that it had a store within three miles of 95% of all American households. RadioShack began in Boston in 1921.